This week’s haftarah is Sefer Ovadiah. Its final verse is particularly well-known, since it is recited every day immediately prior to Yishtabach in Tefilat Shacharit (Morning Prayers): “And saviors shall ascend Mt. Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the L-rd shall have the kingdom (hamelucha).” (This, and all Bible translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach) It is preceded by a pasuk (verse) from Sefer Tehillim: “For the kingship (hamelucha) is the L-rd’s, and He rules (moshale) over the nations,” (22:29) and is followed by a well-known statement of the prophet Zechariah: “And the L-rd shall become King (melech) over all the earth; on that day shall the L-rd be one, and His name one.” (14:9)

By deploying the terms, “hamelucha” and “melech,” these three pasukim present one of Judaism’s essential theological principles, namely, the universal kingship of the Almighty. It is crucial to note, however, that they are not describing the world as we know it; instead they are referring to the Messianic period when all mankind will finally recognize the truth of Hashem’s existence and His incomparable power and glory. A crucial aspect of this soon-to-be realized time is famously depicted by the navi (prophet) Isaiah:

And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a fatling [shall lie] together, and a small child shall lead them. And a cow and a bear shall graze together, their children shall lie; and a lion, like cattle, shall eat straw. And an infant shall play over the hole of an old snake and over the eyeball of an adder, a weaned child shall stretch forth his hand. (Sefer Yeshayahu, 11:6-8)

How are we to interpret these pasukim? The Rambam (Maimonides, 1135-1204) maintains that all Nevi’im (Prophets)-based descriptions of Messianic times must be viewed as metaphoric pronouncements:

Do not presume that in the Messianic age any facet of the world's nature will change or there will be innovations in the work of creation.Rather, the world will continue according to its pattern. Although Isaiah (11:6) states: “The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat,” these words are a metaphor and a parable. The interpretation of the prophecy is as follows: Israel will dwell securely together with the wicked gentiles who are likened to a wolf and a leopard, as in the prophecy Jeremiah (5:6): “A wolf from the wilderness shall spoil them and a leopard will stalk their cities.” They will all return to the true faith and no longer steal or destroy. Rather, they will eat permitted food at peace with Israel as Isaiah (11:7) states: “The lion will eat straw like an ox.” Similarly, other Messianic prophecies of this nature are metaphors. In the Messianic era, everyone will realize which matters were implied by these metaphors and which allusions they contained. (Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shoftim, Hilchot Melachim 12:1, this, and all Mishneh Torah translations, Rabi Eliyahu Touger, underlining my own)

The Ra’avad (Rabbi Avraham ben David, c. 1125-1198) in his critical analyses of the Mishneh Torah, strongly disagrees with this position of the Rambam. After all, the Ra’avad contended, did not the Torah explicitly state: “I will remove wild beasts from the Land?” (Sefer Vayikra 26:6) If so, how is possible to imagine that the Prophets’ words were merely allegorical in nature?

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch shlita, the contemporary Israeli posek and former Chief Rabbi of the Edah HaChareidit in Jerusalem, suggests that the crux of the machloket (argument) between the Rambam and the Ra’avad is to be found in their respective analyses of the phrase, “I will remove wild beasts from the Land.” In Rav Sternbuch’s view, Maimonides maintained that the time of the Mashiach (Messiah) will be a period wherein “the wild beasts will no longer be able to do harm to mankind.” This, Rav Sternbuch suggests, “is not a change in nature, [since it is inexplicit] rather than manifestly evident to one and all.” He asserts that in contrast, the Ra’avad maintains the literal meaning of the phrase, “I will remove wild beasts from the Land,” i.e. “this means there will longer be any vicious animals.” In other words, vicious beasts will simply cease to exist. (Sefer Ta’am v’Da’at, Parashat Bechukotai, 26:6).

Given our Sages ongoing analysis as to how to understand the true nature of the Messianic period, it is evident that our people have ceaselessly yearned for the coming of the Mashiach (Messiah). This passionate longing was given powerful voice in the Ani Ma’amin (“I Believe”) section of the siddur that follows the standard Morning Prayers: “I believe in complete faith in the coming of the Messiah. And even though he tarries, I nevertheless continue to wait for him each and every day.” (Principle 12, translation my own)

How will we know, however, whether or not he has finally arrived? Here, too, we are fortunate in that we can turn to the Rambam for an answer to this vital question:

King Messiah will arise in the future and return the kingship of David to its former greatness and glory. He will rebuild the Holy Temple and gather all of the exiles to the Land of Israel. All of the laws will be in effect during his days just as they were in earlier times. We will [once again] offer korbanot (animal offerings) and keep the laws of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years just like all of the other laws stated in the Torah. (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim 11:1)How will we know that the individual who accomplishes each of these holy tasks is indisputably the one and only Mashiach? A few halachot later, Maimonides provides us with his answer:

If a king will arise from the House of David, who, like his ancestor David, diligently contemplates the Torah and observes its mitzvot as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law, and will compel all of Israel to walk in (the way of the Torah) and rectify the breaches in its observance, and fight the wars of G-d, we may, with assurance, consider him Mashiach. If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Mashiach. (11:4, underlining and emendations my own)

One of our most important tasks as ovdei Hashem (servants of Hashem) is to be an or l’amim (light unto the nations, Sefer Yeshayahu 49:6). Little wonder, then, that our hopes and desires for the imminent arrival of the Mashiach are universalistic ones that encompass a vision of peace for all mankind. As the Rambam teaches us in the concluding words of this passage:

He will then improve the entire world, motivating all the nations to serve G-d together, as Sefer Tzephaniah (3:9) states: “I will transform the peoples to a purer language that they all will call upon the name of G-d and serve Him with one purpose.”

May the stirring words of Zechariah the prophet be a clarion call to every nation of the world: “And the L-rd shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the L-rd be one, and His name one.” May this time come soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.Shabbat Shalom

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The name “Be’er Sheva” appears a total of nine times in Sefer Bereishit, and serves as the opening verse of our parasha: “And Jacob left Be’er Sheva and went to Haran.” (28:10) The nine-fold repetition of Be’er Sheva suggests that it was an unusually important place during the time of the Avot (the Patriarchs, i.e. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). Indeed, each of the Patriarchs lived in Be’er Sheva at different points in their lives. Moreover, Be’er Sheva was clearly a place of extraordinary kedushah (holiness), since it is the context for the sole instance in Tanach of the term, “A-le Olam”: “And he (Abraham) planted an eishel [a grove or an inn] in Be’er Sheva, and he called there in the name of the L-rd, the G-d of the World (A-le Olam).” (21:33, this, and the following Bible and Rashi translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach).

In his commentary on this verse, Rashi (1040-1105), based upon Talmud Bavli, Sotah 10a, suggests that the eishel in Be’er Sheva provided Abraham with the opportunity to publicize the existence of Hashem to all mankind:

By means of that “eishel,” the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, was called “G-d of the Entire World.” After they [the wayfarers] would eat and drink, he would say to them, “Bless the One of Whose [food] you have eaten. Do you think that you have eaten of my [food]? [You have eaten of the food] of the One Who spoke and the world came into being!”

Be’er Sheva, therefore, emerges as a precursor to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, for it was from this hallowed ground that the Avot were able teach the world about the existence of “the One Who spoke and the world came into being.” My rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993), known as “the Rav” to his students and disciples, expanded upon this idea and noted: “Be’er Sheva was rooted in a wellspring of kedushah. It was a fulcrum for offerings to G-d and a conduit for the Divine Presence.” (This, and the following quotations, are from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Darosh Darash Yosef: Discourses of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik on the Weekly Parashah,” Rabbi Avishai C. David, editor, pages 74-75) As such, Be’er Sheva was the center of pre-Sinatic Torah and prophecy, and the nucleus of many of the beliefs and practices associated with Judaism until our present historical moment.

Now that we are familiar with ancient Be’er Sheva’s unique spiritual standing, we are in a much better position to understand why the first pasuk (verse) of our parasha emphasizes that Jacob left Be’er Sheva, instead of simply stating, “and Jacob went to Haran,” as we find in an earlier verse: “And Jacob listened to his father and his mother, and he went to Padan Aram [i.e. Haran].” (28:7) According to the Rav: “And Jacob left Be’er Sheva, denotes that Jacob was severed somehow from Be’er Sheva… uprooted by forces beyond his control, compelled to leave a place he loved… a place to which he had become bonded.” Moreover, and quite significantly, “Jacob and Be’er Sheva had merged into one symbiotic entity, and now Jacob had to leave… and wander.”

What was the nature of the symbiotic relationship that obtained between Jacob and Be’er Sheva? Rav Soloveitchik suggests the following analysis:

Be’er Sheva… was the first home of the covenantal community, the center of spiritual life for the adherents of Abraham’s teaching. When Jacob left Be’er Sheva, he pulled away from this spiritual center. Perhaps he was frightened that if he left the home of his father and grandfather and the center of their teaching, he would also lose his role as leader and teacher of the covenantal community.

Moreover, as much as Jacob needed Be’er Sheva, Be’er Sheva needed Jacob. As the Rav notes in a comment that echoes and explicates Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit (68:6): “…when Jacob left, Be’er Sheva lost its glory. Once Jacob had gone, Be’er Sheva resembled Mount Sinai when the shofar sounded and the sanctity of the mount dissipated.” Hence, according to Rav Soloveitchik, Jacob’s departure from Be’er Sheva had a two-fold effect: it created fear and anxiety in his psyche as to whether or not he would continue to be the “leader and teacher of the covenantal community,” and it diminished Be’er Sheva’s spiritual import for evermore. Based upon Hashem’s endless beneficence, however, its kedushah was not lost for all time, and instead, “found its home in the place that Jacob encountered on his journey from Be’er Sheva: the holy city of Jerusalem.”

Armed with the Rav’s penetrating analysis, the phrase, “and Jacob left Be’er Sheva,” undeniably takes on new and powerful meaning, for Jacob did far more than physically leave Be’er Sheva. In reality, absent Jacob, Be’er Sheva was transformed into just one more place on the map of ancient Israel and ceased to be the spiritual center of the nascent Jewish people.

With Hashem’s help, may we be zocheh (merit) to witness the coming of Mashiach, and the transference of Be’er Sheva’s ancient kedushah to the rebuilt Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple) in Jerusalem, soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.

The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:rdbe718@gmail.com.​*** My audio shiurim for Women on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: http://tinyurl.com/8hsdpyd​*** I have posted 164 of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.

Sefer Bereishit contains many celebrated phrases that have shaped our people’s destiny for all time. One of them occurs in this week’s parasha:​And Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob drew near to Isaac his father, and he felt him, and he said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like the hands of his brother Esau, and he blessed him. (27:21-23, this and all Bible translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)

Rashi (1040-1105), following MidrashTanchuma Buber, explains “the voice is the voice of Jacob” as connoting “the voice of Jacob who speaks entreatingly [i.e. with respect and dignity]: ‘Please rise;’ but Esau spoke harshly: ‘Let my father arise!’” In addition, the Torah teaches us that Isaac proclaimed “the hands are the hands of Esau” in a literal sense, since Isaac had minimal body hair, whereas Esau was particularly hirsute. Jacob, therefore, was able to present himself to his blind father as his brother, Esau, based upon the successful subterfuge contrived by his mother, Rebecca: “And the hides of the kid-goats she put on his hands and on the smoothness of his neck.” (27:16) Why did Rebecca utilize this stratagem? The Torah provides us with the answer:

And Rebecca said to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold I have heard your father speaking to Esau your brother, saying, ‘Bring me game and make me tasty foods, and I will eat, and I will bless you before the L-rd before my death.’ And now my son, hearken to my voice (“sh’ma b’koli”), to what I am commanding you. Go now to the flock, and take for me from there two choice kids, and I will make them tasty foods for your father, as he likes. And you shall bring [them] to your father that he may eat, in order that he bless you before his death.” (Sefer Bereishit 27:6-10)

In sum, Rebecca guided Jacob in the usurpation of the bracha (blessing) that Isaac was poised to bestow upon Esau, since she was gifted with prophetic insight (ruach hakodesh) and thereby knew that the continuity of Abraham’s spiritual and ethical legacy could only be guaranteed through Jacob.

Midrash Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer takes a very different approach in its explication of the phrase, “the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” It suggests that “the voice is the voice of Jacob” refers to a profound grasp of the logical underpinnings of the Torah (b’hegyon Torah), whereas, “the hands are the hands of Esau” is applicable “in every instance of murder and all manner of innocent deaths.” (Literally, “mavet ra,” chapter 32, translations and brackets my own) It continues its analysis of our pasuk (verse) by suggesting:

Moreover, when it is declared in the Heavens that “the voice is the voice of Jacob,” they [i.e. the Ministering Angels] bestir themselves in a riotous cacophony of sounds [of joy.] And when “the voice is the voice of Jacob” is proclaimed on earth, all who hear and comprehend [its singular meaning] are inextricably joined [to the ultimate depth] of the phrase. [Unfortunately, however,] all those who do not hear and comprehend these words [when they are spoken] are counted among those whose “hands are the hands of Esau.”

Prior to encountering this exposition of our verse, we would have thought that Isaac’s statement, “the voice is the voice of Jacob,” was said but once in history, namely, immediately prior to the bestowal of the bracha that had been designated for Esau. The Midrash informs us, however, that our phrase continues to be declared both in the Heavens and on earth. By extension, whoever on earth joins the Ministering Angels in their jubilant acceptance of the Torah will be zocheh (merit) to be connected to its holiness forevermore, so that they, too, will have the voice of Torah in their hearts, minds and souls.

Midrash Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer’s interpretation of our pasuk is quite reminiscent of words that we recite at a Hadran (conclusion of a Talmudic tractate):

We express gratitude before You, Hashem, our G-d, and the G-d of our forefathers, that You have established our portion with those who dwell in the study hall, and have not established our portion with idlers. For we rise early and they rise early; we arise early for the words of Torah, while they arise early for idle words. We toil and they toil; we toil and receive reward, while they toil and do not receive reward. We run and they run; we run to the life of the World to Come… (Modim section of the Hadran, translation, The Artscroll Edition of the Talmud)

With Hashem’s kind help, may we ever be connected to His holy Torah, for its words are “our life and the length of our days, and about them we will meditate day and night.” (Evening Prayer Service, translation, Artscroll Siddur) V’chane yihi ratzon.Shabbat Shalom

The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:rdbe718@gmail.com.

*** My audio shiurim for Women on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: http://tinyurl.com/8hsdpyd​*** I have posted 164 of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.

One of the major themes of our parasha is Eliezer’s choice of a wife for Isaac from the daughters of Abraham’s birthplace:

And Abraham said to his servant [identified by tradition as Eliezer], the elder of his house, who ruled over all that was his: “Please place your hand under my thigh. And I will adjure you by the L-rd, the G-d of the heaven and the G-d of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose midst I dwell. But you shall go to my land and to my birthplace, and you shall take a wife for my son, for Isaac.” … And the servant took ten camels of his master’s camels, and he went, and all the best of his master was in his hand; and he arose, and he went to Aram Naharaim, to the city of Nahor. (Sefer Bereishit 24:2-4, 10, this and all Bible translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach, brackets my own)

It is fascinating that Abraham gave Eliezer only one criterion for choosing the next matriarch of the Jewish people, namely, that she must not descend “from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose midst I dwell.” This is quite perplexing, since we would have expected him to give his loyal servant a detailed list of the qualities that Isaac’s spouse must possess. As such, how did Eliezer know which outstanding middah (ethical characteristic) was necessary for Isaac’s future wife?

The Chasidic rebbe, Rav Chaim ben Solomon Tyrer zatzal (1740 circ.-1860), known as “the Be’er Mayim Chaim” after the name of his most famous work, suggests the following answer to our question. He notes that everyone during Abraham’s time knew that he was the personification of chesed (lovingkindness). Indeed, Eliezer had witnessed countless examples of his master’s overwhelming care and concern for all those in need. Therefore, he focused upon this middah as the decisive element in his search for Isaac’s life partner:

Behold, our father Abraham was known to everyone as the first ba’al chesed (master of loving-kindness) in world history. Abraham, throughout his entire life and with all his strength, pursued opportunities wherein he could bring guests to his home in order to give them food and drink…as the verse states, “Now the L-rd appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he was sitting at the entrance of the tent when the day was hot.” (18:1) [The correct interpretation of this verse is that] at first Abraham sent Eliezer to see if there were any potential guests traveling on their way – and he did not believe him when he stated there was no one to be found. Therefore, Abraham, himself, went to ascertain whether or not he might be able to find any [desert travelers]. (Commentary on Sefer Bereishit, Parashat Chayeh Sarah 24:14, this, and all translations and markings my own)

Given Abraham’s marked emphasis upon chesed, Eliezer knew full well that this was the singular middah that Isaac’s spouse needed to demonstrate if she was to enter into and become a leader of the Covenantal Community:

And he [Eliezer] said, “O L-rd, the G-d of my master Abraham, please cause to happen to me today, and perform loving-kindness with my master, Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the water fountain, and the daughters of the people of the city are coming out to draw water. And it will be, [that] the maiden to whom I will say, ‘Lower your pitcher and I will drink’ and she will say, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels, she is the one that You designated for Your servant, for Isaac, and through her may I know that You have performed loving-kindness with my master.” (24:12-14)

The Be’er Mayim Chaim explicates this passage in the following manner:

[Given the unique import of chesed in Abraham’s family, Eliezer] wanted to test Rebecca as to whether or not she was a practitioner of loving-kindness, for only if this were to be the case would she be fitting to enter the house of Abraham. Therefore, if he would say to her, “Please give me a little bit of water to drink,” and she would respond, “Drink and I will also provide water for your camels,” [i.e. more than that which was requested] then, You [Hashem], will have proven incontrovertibly that she has the ethical characteristic of loving-kindness within her…

The Be’er Mayim Chaim concludes his penetrating analysis with a deep insight into the nature of genuine chesed: “The authentic sign of gemilut chasadim (lovingkindness) is that one runs after the unfortunate and dispirited [to help them], and if such an individual should come on their own – one goes beyond their immediate request [in order to truly provide for their needs].” As we have seen, Rebecca’s behavior with Eliezer and his camels projected this understanding of lovingkindness. As such, she was privileged to be one of the greatest leaders of the Jewish people.

Long ago David Hamelech (King David) declared in Sefer Tehillim:

The kindnesses of the L-rd I shall sing forever (chasdei Hashem olam ashirah); to generation after generation I shall make known Your faithfulness, with my mouth. For I said, “Forever will it be built with kindness (olam chesed yibaneh); as the heavens, with which You will establish Your faithfulness.” (89:2-3)

While the phrase “olam chesed yibaneh” may be translated as “forever will it be built in kindness,” one may accurately render it, as well, as “the world will be built through kindness,” since, depending upon the context, “olam” may be translated as either “forever” or “world.” In my estimation, this was precisely Abraham’s, Sarah’s, Isaac’s and Rebecca’s task – to build the world through kindness, so that, one day, we may witness the fulfillment of the Aleinu’s stirring phrase, “l’takane olam b’malchut Shakai” (“to improve the world through the kingship of the Almighty”). With Hashem’s help may this time come soon and in our days. V’chane yihi ratzon.

The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you have family or friends you would like to have added, please do not hesitate to contact me via email mailto:rdbe718@gmail.com.

*** My audio shiurim for Women on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: http://tinyurl.com/8hsdpyd​*** I have posted 164 of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.